Campaign against Climate Change
www.campaigncc.org
07903316331
For immediate release
Friday 23rd September
Gormless BBC Lancashire duped by bogus “environmental” charity
On BBC Radio Lancashire this morning an “independent environmental charity” was invited to give its glowing
endorsement to the plans by the gas company Cuadrilla Resources to embark on a massive project to extract
natural gas by the process of hydraulic fracturing1 or “fracking” in the Blackpool/Southport area.
That “independent environmental charity” was the Global Warming Policy Foundation. A brief google search
would have revealed that the GWPF is neither “independent” in any meaningful sense given what was under
discussion in the program, or “environmental” in a way that would be understood as such by the vast majority of
the rest of us.
The GWPF was set up in order to attack and undermine any and all of the efforts being made to tackle the
environmental crisis created by global warming. This has included efforts to undermine or confuse the science of
global warming itself. Its record shows this clearly. Indeed its stated aims are to challenge "extremely damaging
and harmful policies" envisaged by governments to mitigate anthropogenic global warming. ( see eg
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8398103.stm )
Here are the kind of references that a brief google search would turn up, suggesting the GWPF is far from
independent and ‘environmental’
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Global_Warming_Policy_Foundation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/20/global-warming-policy-foundation-donors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming_Policy_Foundation
The GWPF’s chairman and effective founder is Nigel Lawson – a politician and not an ‘environmentalist’.
Moreover he is a politician with a known attachment to neo-liberal ideologies which oppose all regulations
(environmental and other) on business.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/03/climatechange.greenpolitics
Sir John Houghton (ex co-chair, IPCC etc…) has described his views as “neither cool nor rational”
http://www.jri.org.uk/resource/CritiqueOf_AppealToReason.pdf
George Monbiot has addressed the whole problem of the undue influence in the media from often (directly or
indirectly) industry funded right wing think tanks. The big problem is that the media fail to identify these as such.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/12/thinktanks-crushing-democracy-pr-agenices
If BBC Lancashire had wanted a more reliable assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of hydraulic
fracturing for shale gas it might have tried the report compiled for the European Parliament (see note not 2 below)
or the report from the highly respected Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research ( see
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/shalegasreport )
Contacts
Campaign against Climate Change, 5, Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX 02078339311 info@campaigncc.org
Phil Thornhill, National Coordinator phil.thornhill@campaigncc.org 07903316331
Fiona Brookes, Campaigner, fiona@campaigncc.org 07545330890
Sonny Khan, South Lakes Action on Climate Change and CCC Steering Group member
sonnykhan@hotmail.co.uk,
Note 1/ “Fracking” or “hydraulic fracturing” is a technique that allows the extraction of previously untappable natural gas
from relatively non-porous shale beds. It requires a large number of wells and involves drilling deep down and then usually
outwards horizontally into the shale beds where the rock is then fractured by forcing down into it large quantities of water,
mixed with sand and chemicals, under high pressure. The sand, or other ‘proppant’ sticks in micro-fissures, keeping them
open and allowing the gas to flow back up the drilled well.
In the US where ‘fracking’ has taken off in a big way there have been numerous cases of contamination of ground water,
well blow-outs, and ground and air pollution. Famously, tap water has contained so much methane it has been possible to set
light to it. These numerous incidents have provoked a storm of protest in the US and have even inspired an Oscar-nominated
film ‘Gasland’ by director Josh Fox.
“Fracking” is now coming to the UK. Active operations have started in the Blackpool/Southport area but have been
suspended due to earthquakes in the area they are suspected to have caused.. Oil and gas companies are making applications
in an ever increasing number of other areas around the UK, already including South Wales, Kent, the Mendips, Scotland and
Sussex.
Note 2/
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/document/activities/cont/201107/20110715ATT24183/20110715ATT24183E
N.pdf
Sample quote: “Whatever reasons for allowing hydraulic fracturing exist, the justification that it helps
toreduce greenhouse gas emissions are rarely among them. On the contrary, it is very likelythat
investments in shale gas projects – if at all – might have a short-living impact on gassupply which could be
counterproductive , as it would provide the impression of an ensuredgas supply at a time when the signal to
consumers should be to reduce this dependency bysavings, efficiency measures and substitution”